An Encyclopedia of the History of Technology part 103. This one of a kind encyclopedia presents the entire field of technology from rudimentary agricultural tools to communication satellites in this first of its kind reference source. Following an introduction that discusses basic tools, devices, and mechanisms, the chapters are grouped into five parts that provide detailed information on materials, power and engineering, transportation, communication and calculation, and technology and society, revealing how different technologies have together evolved to produce enormous changes in the course of history | PART FIVE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY Gauss who introduced the gauss as the unit of measurement of magnetic fields. Acoustic mines and pressure mines designed to detonate as a result of the change in water pressure created by a vessel as it passed through it were also developed. A cross between the mine and the torpedo was the human torpedo which was pioneered by the Italians and successfully used by them to sink the British battleship Queen Elizabeth in Alexandria harbour on Christmas Eve 1941. Called chariots by the British they were shaped like torpedoes and ridden to the target by two frogmen who on arrival merely disconnected the explosive warhead clamped it to the ship s keel and set a time fuse. The war at sea also saw the rise of the aircraft carrier over the battleship. Air power proved a key factor in defeating the U-boat and it also provided a serious threat to the surface warship as was dramatically brought home by the sinking of the British Prince of Wales and Repulse by Japanese aircraft off the coast of Malaya on 10 December 1941. It was in the Pacific however that this phenomenon was most marked all the major naval battles between the Americans and Japanese were largely conducted by carrier-based aircraft with the opposing fleets often not seeing one another. Land warfare The dominant feature of land warfare during 1939-45 was the Blitzkrieg or lightning war concept first put into practice by the Germans and the key to their dramatic early victories. The ingredients of this strategy were mechanized forces and tactical airpower and the object dislocation of the enemy s command and control processes. This meant the ability to think and act faster and was much helped by the development of robust and reliable battlefield radio communications. Aircraft were used as aerial artillery armed with rockets bombs and machine guns and controlled by air-ground radio links. Typical of the types of aircraft used in this role were the Soviet Stormovik series the British
